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O.C. high school kids feed abalone kelp as they grow in a classroom. Get Inspired/Nancy Caruso

As a result of the first genetic study of once-abundant green abalone in Southern California’s, some L.A.-based scientists have gotten a grant to breed captive abalone in a lab, as we report on the radio today.

But the scientists aren't the only ones working to bring abalone back. Programs in Orange County also seek to demonstrate the viability of restoring green abalone populations in coastal waters.

Caruso got permission from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to try selective “outplanting” of abalone, releasing classroom-grown specimens into the wild.

Amanda Bird is with Orange County Coastkeeper and one of the co-authors of the newly published genetic study. She has overseen a green abalone restoration project for several years. Bird and volunteer divers collected 26 tissue samples from wild abalone, leaving them in place and without harm, for analysis.

Coastkeeper volunteer divers are now surveying potential "outplant" locations for green abalone between Newport Beach and Dana Point. The effort is funded in part by individual donors through an “adopt an abalone family” program. (Coastkeeper says they're seeking more divers AND donors.)

Previously in Pacific Swell

KPCC's Molly Peterson on a Gilligan's Island style tour of environmental stories in and affecting Southern California. Named for the Yvor Winters poem: "The slow Pacific swell stirs on the sand/Sleeping to sink away, withdrawing land..."
Follow the blog at @PacificSwell and Molly at @KPCCmolly.